


I'll be by your side

by HangryAngryCat



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cutesy, Developing Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Hand Jobs, Love Confessions, Multi, Oral Sex, POV Female Character, Public Sex, Reader-Insert, Reader-Interactive, Sexual Tension, Shyness, Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2020-10-12 19:48:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20569898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HangryAngryCat/pseuds/HangryAngryCat
Summary: You have been friends with the Chocobros for a long time, been trained by them to join the Prince on his duties and missions. You are getting better and better, and Gladios attractiveness is getting more and more obvious to you. But someone elses interest for you has peeked also.





	1. For such a long time...

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is my first time since what feels like forever to write something like this, and particular something in English, which is not my native language. I have read several of fandoms here on this page and got so inspired of these lovely stories that I wanted to try something similar myself. With this said, I wish to keep it very prestigeless to keep myself entertained and not to let it become an angsty-kind of thing to do. I love writing and I want it to keep it that way to keep this little spark glowing. 
> 
> I do not know how this will turn out yet, so bear with me if I am a bit inconsistent in the beginning, before I know how it will turn out and what direction this wants to go. Just getting my thoughts out there too.
> 
> I hope you will enjoy this little feeble and shy try of a story. <3

You opened your warm, ambery eyes and stretched in your king size bed, blinked a few times while waiting for your eyesight to clear. Your bedchamber was airy and big, far to the ceiling and just like you wanted it, with rustic flooring in dark spruce. It almost even smelled like the city’s forest you so often fled to, to recharge and to calm the enormous impressions Insomnia gave you. Even though you had lived here for quite some time, you still got overwhelmed at times of the fast living they had here. The sun had not yet risen enough to let it’s light flood into your room and blind you where you laid, so you took the opportunity at hand and laid still for some few minutes in the bed, trying to wake up enough to not fall over if you tried to stand up and pulled your blanket further up, covering your mouth as you burrowed your face in the soft, dark red fabric, snoozing some more.

A loud knock startled you out of your snooze and you became wide awake. A low masculine voice was heard from the other side of the door, urging you to get up. 

“Wakey wakey, princess, it’s time for morning training.”

It was Gladiolus Amicitia, the Crownsguard general, trainer for the Crownsguard and one of your best friends. He never did wake the other Crownsguardians up when training, but he never hesitated to help his friends get up in the morning, be it in a soft or harsh way, you knew that Noctis had been experiencing the latter form several times. “I’m on my way, Gladio…” you said with a growlish, sleepy voice. 

“Yes, I’ve heard that several times, but are you really?” You heard from the other side of the door before your heard the door unlock and the door croaked open and Gladio stepped in. He, himself wasn’t ready at all, where he stood only in a towel and his seemingly raven-black hair wet to a dripping. “I thought you were ready for morning training, but here you are, not even dressed.” you snorted in a fake-wryly way, smiling sassy at him as he slowly made his way to your bed, in a slow, casual style, and as he got closer you saw the water drips on his chest slowly making their way down towards the towel and you felt the butterflies in your stomach flutter for a second, but you managed to keep your face straight. He grinned at you when he came up to you and stood right beside your bed. “Well, more ready than you are, princess.” he teased before his voice lowered in a more serious manner. “Now get up, before we are late.” 

“What’s the hurry?” you asked before shooing him out again to get dressed. He just smiled and teasingly pouted his mouth while running his index finger across your jawline, sending a shiver down your spine. _ By the six… _ you thought to yourself while trying to calm the butterflies going wild in your stomach. You had always thought the man who now made his way out of the room to leave you to dressing, was extremely attractive, even though you tried your very best to hide it, which you thought you did well. He was, at times, after all, your trainer and one of your friends, so it would probably be not too good to jump in bed with him, and as people around would not see it fitting. But oh, what a temptation he was, and he should know by now how hot you were for him, or he hadn’t noticed and he was only showing his interest. After contemplating it for a short while, you got up, stretching your legs over the ledge of the bed, and stood up. Your shoulder-long, deep red hair fell down your back as you threw your head back to get it out of your face and you corrected the bangs that was all over the place, to be placed neatly over your forehead. You strolled over to one of the corners in the room to pick up your training gear, a slim, stretchy attire with golden lining that is so classical for the Crownsguard, but also compliments your complexion a lot. You put it on and checking yourself in the mirror, making sure that everything is placed right and that you haven’t no weird wrinkles in bad places and such, tidy and precise as you were. When it was to your satisfaction, you open a drawer to pull out your weapons, two dagger and a lance, weighting them in your hand and placing them in your holsters on the hip and on your back, respectively. Then you felt ready and headed out the door, where a, now dressed, Gladio was waiting for you to get ready. “All done yet?” he asked while turning around and starting to walk down the narrow corridor towards the training hall. “Yes, I thought you would come storming in again anytime soon so I better had to.” you teasingly answered with a grin. He chuckled slightly and shook his head and answered not. 

\---

The two of you silently walked together down the corridor, taking a right turn at the end through a door, leading out to a more open, hall-like corridor with the Lucian banner on both sides and several doors leading to different locations. You proceeded to the end of the hall and through one of the doors on the right, leading you into the training hall. “Alright, (Y/N), make yourself ready. You will need to work extra on your footwork and agility, because you won’t be slamming any bigger brutes with that small body of yours.” he said, getting up in the middle of the hall and pulling out his greatsword, and making himself ready. _ Is that so, Gladio…? _ you thought to yourself as you couldn’t resist thinking of slamming in other ways while looking at him. You give him a nod to show that you understanded, and pulled out your daggers. He didn’t wait a second after and rushed against you with the greatsword ready at you, swinging it towards you in chest-height. You quickly dodged and moved to the side to make some swings with your daggers, which Gladio with ease dodged. He, in the movement, swinged his sword and you tried to knock him off his feet with a low-sweep but failed and instead fell hard on your back, not reaching his feet. You felt the air being pressed out of your lungs and you fought to get it back, trying to breathe heavily and within a millisecond, Gladio had put his greatsword against your neck. He moved away from you with a concerned look in his face, helped you up while you still tried to breathe. After a little while, you managed to get your breathing back. “Well, what did I say? Footwork! Again! Concentrate!” he exclaimed, while getting himself ready again. You took a moment to brace and made yourself ready again. This time, Gladio charged at you with a guttural cry, cutting the sword from above his head. You managed to get away, tried to concentrate on the footwork, and to analyze his movements. Gladio immediately followed up by using the momentum to slice upwards, and this time you were more prepared, dodging and using the speed to, again, make a low-sweep which this time brought Gladio down with a loud thump. You were fast on your feet and jumped on his chest, using your weight to hold him down, putting your daggers at his throat and grinning at him in your success. Up this close you saw his face, shiny with sweat and he was panting. You quickly moved away with a slight blush and he chuckled when he stood to his feet, saying: “Good work this time, even though I could’ve just throw you off.” _ He must have noticed… _ you thought and blushed even more. 

You suddenly heard a lone applaud behind you and you turned around to see Ignis Scientia, the King’s Counselor and Tactician, and another one of your friends. “Good work, (Y/N).” he praised. And you knew that it was really good if Ignis even praised it, mostly because he was an expert in wielding the daggers. “Thank you, Ignis.” you quickly replied, still blushing a bit because you respected him and his words much. Ignis came closer and said to you both, “It is almost time for breakfast, go get a shower and I will prepare a meal for us.” “Thank you.” Gladio replied and turned to you. “Good work, it is getting better, but you still got some way to go. Go get a shower, and I’ll see you downstairs.” He winked and grinned while sheathing his sword and making his way to his room to get a shower again. Why did he shower before the training even? Unholy thoughts creeped its’ way into your head and you quickly shaked them away.

You sat down at a bench by the sides of the training hall, just to get a minute or two. You were panting slightly, feeling a bit drained, but also feeling a pleasant, worked out feeling in the body. You weren’t as untrained as you first thought, which pleased you. No, you were actually getting a bit toned, and all this training began to show. After a while of contemplating your training-journey, you stood up and made your way to your room again, suddenly feeling your stomach growl and your mouth water at the thought of Ignis delicious breakfast. You hurried along and quickly got off your clothes when you had come inside your room. Everything felt so obvious, like, Gladio must've noticed the tension between you two. And, honestly, you didn’t mind at all, even though you felt shy around him. Maybe it was a natural reaction, because after all, Gladiolus wasn’t really the laid-back type of guy. He was stubborn, and outgoing, and he took what he wanted, when he wanted it. And he wasn’t afraid to say what he wanted, regardless if it was socially daring. And, of course, she herself could also be that type, but, it was something with him that made her very submissive.

\---

You got lost in these thoughts until you glanced at the clock and it struck you how late you are. You quickly dried yourself with the towel and put on clothes and hurried outside your room and down the stairs where all of them where sitting and munching on various delicious foods. Prompto exclaimed “Hey (Y/N)! I heard it went well on your training!” and grinned wide at you, mouth full of food. Noctis were very tired as usual, complaining about getting up so early, but eating with good appetite. Gladio, freshly showered again, eating a freshly baked bread bun grinning at you when he saw you coming down the stairs, and of course the only free place was beside Gladio. The butterflies made themselves known again, and you tried to keep your calm, how hard does it have to be!? Ignis was sipping a cup of Ebony. “Welcome, come and get some breakfast. We have a long day ahead.” he said and pushed a plate towards you with various, newly cooked, delicious foods. “Hey Prom, yeah, it went pretty good, I am getting better…” you answered Prompto as you sat down beside Gladio, feeling nervous inside. You started to eat your breakfast and drinking your coffee, all the while the boys chattered away, you got lost in thoughts, unable to not be highly aware of Gladio’s every move. A while went and you suddenly feel a hand creeping onto your knee and you flinched a bit, startled when you realized what happened. It was Gladios hand. You tried your best to not make notice of any of it, but inside you were trembling, a hot feeling flushing through your body and you almost couldn’t resist to shiver at his touch. He mustv’e known. You kept eating your breakfast and by the end of it, Ignis said: “Alright, go get ready you while I do the dishes, Noctis, would you lend a hand? We meet down here in an hour, the King wanted us to look up some disturbances outside the city, some daemons to tend to.” “Alright, that sounds good.” Prompto and Gladio said while Noctis groaned loudly and begged Ignis to be allowed to do it another day and to be permitted to go take a nap instead, while Ignis firmly stood his ground and argued otherwise, also inviting Prompto who were more positive to the request. You got up and went towards your room when you heard Gladio’s low voice taunting you. “I know you want it, and I do too. So let’s just cut the slack and get to the point.” His voice became more growly of lust at the end of it. You froze, millions of thoughts racing through your head, not knowing how to answer. Every cell in your body wanted this, had wanted this all along, and now you hesitated for a while, mostly because you really didn’t think this would happen. Gladiolus was untouchable, or really, he was crowded with girls wanting him and he could get any woman he wanted, you guessed that that woman wouldn’t be yourself. Apparently a bit too long time had gone and you heard his voice right behind you, his voice almost down to a whisper. “So?” 

_ Fuck it. _

You turned around fast and pushed your body against his, attacked his mouth with your own and he answered every last bit of it, taking it, owning you. His hands were all over you, and he was biting your lips, sucking your tongue, making a low growl of lust and satisfaction while pulling your hair, bending your neck backwards. You were almost just outside your room and he lifted you up, you instinctively put your slender legs around his waist, allowing him to carry you inside your room. You were trembling in his arms and every cell in your body were going on overdrive. He put you down on your unmade bed and growled in a whisper “Now, princess, I want you to lay down and take off your clothes.” He threw off your blanket off the bed and started to take off his shirt, and by the six, your butterflies went haywire by the sight and intention of it. You quickly pulled off your pants and panties with it and you were already so wet. Gladio hummed with contentment and bowed down to kiss your knee and took off his pants, unveiling a huge bulge under his underwear. You bit your lip and smiling sassy at him, taking off your own shirt. Gladio unhooked your bra and began to kiss your breasts, making his way down to the stomach and every kiss made you feeling hotter and hotter, you groaned of lust, wanting him to really cut the slack. He refused, slowly continued until he got to the hip, where he went up again and, at the contrary to before, furiously began to kiss your lips again, pulling down his underwear at the same time, placing himself between your legs. He felt his way down to your cunt and chuckled into your mouth as he easily slid over the opening, feeling how wet you were. “Oh princess, little did I know you were this hot for me…” he whispered into your mouth making you moan and answering within the breath “Oh, I think you did know…” He smiled and inserted a finger into you and you gasped for the sensation. It were a long time ago and you had been more and more sensitive, you really didn’t have had the time nor energy to relieve yourself either during the last couple of weeks, so this were heaven. You really didn’t had time to think, nor did you want to think too much, because this man was amazing and you didn’t want to miss nothing of it. Gladio began to move faster with his hand, and he started breathing heavily of the lust himself, sending you closer to the edge and the volume of the moaning was a good indicator of it. He suddenly stopped and you clinged onto his arms, begging him to continue but he reassured you, he was going to give you something better. 

  
And then he graced you with his cock, just outside, and sometimes just barely inserted himself, you were almost crying of lust, not knowing what to do. You matched your breathing with each other and he grunted of lust, almost couldn’t control himself while teasing you, rockhard as he was. But at last, almost without warning, he slid into you with force, making you exclaim as the sensation shot you high up and wild. Gladio grunted wildly and pumped you as you moaned and held on to Gladio, clawing at his back, exclaimed “Yes Gladio! Fuck me!” He answered by going even faster and harder, kissing you violently and demanding. You felt the orgasm creeping closer and closer and without a warning, it went over the edge and you screamed and trembled while Gladio rode over it with you, not stopping, wanting to make the absolute most of it. You orgasmed hard and long and both were panting hard. Gladio stopped after a while, taking a short rest before asking “Are you fulfilled or are you ready for round two?” You didn’t really know what to answer that, the world were spinning and you just tried to handle the sensation in your body, but after a while, you collected yourself and answered with confidence “I’ll give you round two.” Gladio grinned widely, kissing you soft on the forehead and the lips before laying down. You got up, still a bit lightheaded, but controlled, sat on top of Gladio’s still rock hard cock, inserted it and started to ride. Gladio groaned and put his hands on your hips, following your slender figure with his rough hands. You rode him long and hard, squeezing the last bit out of him while he reveled in every second. After a while, he began to wail even more, _ gosh, how long would he last, _ you thought as you rode him harder and faster, began to tire a bit, but wanted to keep it up. His wails became louder and louder, his grip around your waist became firmer and at last he exclaimed in a loud moan as he let go inside of you and you felt that victorious feeling of having conquered him, slowing off but still rocking back and forth while he was having the time of his life. When his spasms calmed down, you bowed down to rest your forehead against his, in an act of affection. You kissed his forehead and he cooed with a soft, whispering voice “Well princess, who would have thought? I guess it’s best if we make ourselves ready for the day.” And you saw into his deep, calming eyes, eyes just as amber as yours, and smiled and nodded.


	2. Are you there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys. I'm back. Geez I was rusty and really not fluid the last chapter, sorry for that. This one flows a bit better, so here you go. Also, I forgot to mention in the beginning, I have no one to checking my spelling nor sentence construction, sorry if there is any obvious faults that should be corrected. Any comments with ideas on how this could follow is encouraged! 
> 
> Enjoy!

A few minutes later, after wriggling out of bed, trying not to spill any of the fluids out, you wiggled in to the bathroom to clean yourself up, trying to process the recent events that had happen. It finally happened, and by the six it wasn’t really what you previously had imagined it to be, especially not to be over so soon after. But then again, she couldn’t help herself when that challenging question had come, and as you, almost as always before, earlier had tried to fight the warmth and the butterflies that threatened to take over every time you looked at him. Not that it would be soothed at all now that you know how he felt, how he had acted in bed, only spurring your butterflies on from now on. You smiled at the thought and almost got startled when Gladio came sauntering into the bathroom when you were standing there and washing your face, trying to cool down the slight after-sex-blush that had come up afterwards. He had half dressed himself, standing in his boxer shorts while creeping up behind you and putting his arms around your waist, giving you a nibble on the side of the neck and making a low hum of contentment. 

  
“Tasting as good if not better after a while…” he mumbled into your hair, deeply breathed in your scent, making you shudder of pleasure and all you could do was a humming as an answer. _ Gods, was he really like this under all that sass and toughness? _was the only thing you was able to think before he suddenly rose from his nibble, giving you a slap on your ass while teasingly saying: 

“Better get back at it, I think we are starting to get a bit late, princess.” 

You, in your thoughts jumped from the sudden, a bit harsh, treatment and looked at him, giving him a pout:

  
“Hey, what’s up with that all of a sudden? But okay, I’m coming.” Gladiolus looked at you with an evident amused look on his face before walking out the room, quickly put on the rest of his clothes and sat down in a armchair placed in the corner closest to the door to wait for you. You quickly became ready and somewhat clean, even though you never really could feel clean after sex if you didn’t shower, but it was what it was. 

You stepped out of the bathroom and put on your clothes again, with a fresh pair of panties because, Gods, the other ones were soaked. You put up your hair in a ponytail and looked at Gladio who apparently had observed you the whole time, looking somewhat lost in his own thoughts this time. He got back from his thoughts when he noticed you were looking, rose to his feet and began walking to the door when you interrupted him with a slight distress in your voice: 

“Please, don’t tell the others of this, Gladio?” You inquired, a bit scared of what the others would think, and if especially Noctis would dislike it and dismiss you from the party, because, a love interest in the party might distract in situations that required full focus. He stopped in his path, looked at you with a tad bit puzzled expression before he relaxed and nodded to you.

“Of course.”

You breathed out, and smiled towards him before walking after him to the door. You opened the door slowly, it only makes sense you stepped out first. Looking left and right, coast was clear. 

“Alright, let’s go.” you whispered to Gladio and walked out the corridor. He followed, more agile that you might first’ve thought if you didn’t know him, given his size. You traced down the stairs and heard the laughter of Prompto and Noctis blended with some low, humming chuckles of Ignis when Prompto were telling this story of a huge Chocobo he met some years ago. When you came down, you saw them sitting at the table, Ignis sipping on yet a cup of ebony, suddenly shifting energy when he saw you, looking at you piercingly, knowing something was off. Was her blush not gone or did something else give it away? You fidgeted for a millisecond, getting a bit stressed, having his piercing eyes on you.

“Sorry for being late, King’s Knight held me up and I forgot the time.” Gladio seemed to have _ his _ shit together at least and she guessed he wasn’t foreign to make excuses like that. Noctis smiled at the two of you and said cockily.

“I mean, same right? Hey Gladio, when are we gonna play? Can’t wait to kick your ass again.” 

“Dream on, prince.” Gladio snapped back in a lively and teasing manner with a short, soft laugh. And so it was on again, they snapping at each other about the game and who were better at it, Prompto chiming in at times. 

You smiled softly, trying to mentally shrug the uneasy feeling of Ignis eyes trying to search, succeeding after a while when he seemingly didn't find anything. Why did he look at you that way though? Ignis rose to his feet and began to clean his cup and when he was ready, he said to the group, while picking up his black Crownsguard jacket. 

“Alright, let us head out shall we? We’ve got those daemons to tend to.” 

You all went outside through the door right by the stairs and you breathed in the clear, somewhat chilly air. It was absolutely beautiful outside. You pulled your jacket closer around your neck as you shuddered a bit from the sudden cold. You were thankful that the house you all were living in, were placed on the outer sides of Insomnia, as you were more of an outdoor-person rather than the opposite, even though you didn’t mind being in the city on occasion. You sank further down in thoughts, being side-tracked to other topics, and didn’t notice the conversation between the boys as you all made your way to the garage and the Regalia.

“Isn’t it wierd for daemons to be up and running during day?” Prompto had asked with a furl between his eyebrows “I mean, they have only come out during dark, haven’t they?” 

“That is true, Prompto, which makes me believe this is not some kind of regular daemon we will be attending to.” Ignis answered with somewhat suspense in his voice. 

“Oh well, I believe it shouldn’t be too dangerous” Noctis puffed out his chest, a bit cocky. “We’ve been handling some pretty serious ones, haven’t we?” 

“That’s the spirit!” Gladiolus smirked and encouraged Noctis, giving him a sturdy pat on the back, making the shorter prince slip an “Oof”. 

Ignis shot in directly with a sharp voice. “I wouldn’t be so sure, the daemons showing up during daytime could only mean that they had evolved on some kind of way, making them sturdier and less vulnerable to daylight, and also, making them more dangerous than before. And gods knows what more they evolved. We should be wary, approach slowly to see what exactly it is we are dealing with.”

You, who had shook yourself out of your thoughts, thoughts of the day to come and about Gladios’ very well-trained body against yours, had listened to the last few sentences, stayed silent and nodded with the others. By then the party arrived at the garage and the Regalia and they took their usual places, and you blushed slightly at the thought of being so close to Gladio again, being squeezed down between the muscular Shield and the Prince himself, hoping that they wouldn’t notice. 

“All clear?” you heard Ignis’ usual question to check if all were inside, and you all answered confirmative with one voice. He glanced at you quickly in the rear mirror and drove away, carefully not to stare at you too long.

\---

Ignis knew this would be a somewhat long drive to where the daemons had been reported seen last and this gave him time to think. Something had absolutely happened earlier this morning, though he wasn’t sure exactly _ what _ , even though he had his suspicions. _ God damn Gladio, and his ways with women. _ He thought while gritting his teeth a bit. It had always been like this, Ignis had always been more of the careful one, very analyzing and wary whenever he made a step forward and wasn’t sure of how the woman at the time, while Gladio always had been very headstrong and sure of himself being able to get what he wanted. And it surely worked. A lot of times. _ Oh well, that’s the diversity of people… _ Ignis thought to himself, careful to not be dragged down in depressing thoughts. Surely, he had had some women in his life before, but they hadn’t really lasted, because when he loved, he loved hard. Crashed right down. Not really in a bad way, he just invested really hard in the relationships if he felt them to be right, and most of the women had been scared away, ironically enough, as the stories go otherwise. He glanced in the rear mirror, looking at the laughing face who carelessly and with joy exchanged witty comments between the other three males. Her deep red hair perfectly framing her fair skin, her light amber eyes, making his fingers itch in wanting to touch her. She could had been the female Prompto regarding her mood and personality, always smiling and head light, although pretty shy. He had to tear his bluish green eyes away, nailing it at the road ahead, it would be a utterly foolish reason to be crashing the expensive Regalia. It was hard though, to not look at her. He had seen her train though, and even though she pretty recently had just began to train with them, she had made huge progress. From having almost never touched a dagger before, she had become very agile and as recently as of this morning, had taken Gladio down, using her small frame to her advantage. A little bit more confidence wouldn’t hurt though, as she sometimes hesitated when attacking, and those few milliseconds could be fatal in a crucial battle, losing strength, accuracy and speed when she did. _ Maybe he should offer some sessions himself… _He thought as he pulled up to the side of the road as they arrived to the nearest parking lot to where they should be start looking and you all stepped out of the car. 

“Alright, let’s head out.” Noctis said, eager to start looking for these daemons, and started to walk out to the place where they supposed to be. There was an tension in the air, the party was on edge as a pack of dogs ready to hunt down the fox. It was no longer early in the day and the sun burned down on the black armor and making them all sweat a bit as they paced through the scarce desert landscape, some dry bushes is rustling in the faint wind that occasionally blew, offering some cooling breezes now and then. Thank the Six it wasn’t midsummer no more, and that it was going towards a more of an autumn now. Ignis suddenly bowed down, inspecting some tracks on the ground. 

“It would seem that it is an Arachne we will be facing…” He thoughtfully mumbled, loud enough for the others to hear, growing more serious to the end. “But what is it doing out here?” 

“That is odd, yeah.” Gladiolus hummed in a low voice. “There aren’t really no electricity to steal out here either.” 

“Yes. Stay sharp friends.” Ignis advised the group. 

The party began, again, to move forward, even more on their toes than before. Ignis sharpened his senses, but heard nor saw none. They followed the tracks a couple of hundred metres into a rather narrow canyon before a shrieking cut through the air and all of you summoned their weapons on instinct, you drew your daggers quickly. The Arachne jumped down from a cliff above them and almost landed on Prompto, who managed to jump and roll away. He quickly loaded his gun, took aim and unloaded a full clip towards the huge spider. The Arachne avoided most of them but got hit with 5 bullets and it shrieked furiously again, this time towards Prompto specifically. By the time this had happened, had the other guys moved into a formation most effective, Noctis been warping up to the high ledge where the spider came from, looking for a weak spot. Ignis had been backing up and quickly started to analyzing the spider for any abnormalities, summoning his lance, standing ready to attack as soon he had figured out. The Arachne attacked Prompto with its extremely sharp front legs, lifted itself up to give momentum, speed and strength to the attack, heaving itself down with incredible speed, missing Prompto with an inch. The attack seemed to backlash as it got stuck with its legs in the dirt, trying to pry itself away from its bounds. Gladio and Noctis took the advantage and Gladio dashed towards the legs with a warcry and with the goal of cutting them off, only to be attacked from the other legs, this one being successful and Gladio flew into the wall to the right of you, Noctis had better luck and fell down hard on top of the spider, burrowing his sword down in its back. Gladio groaned but was soon up on his feet again, with a small, almost unnoticeable limp in his left leg, gritting his teeth of rage. 

Ignis saw didn’t see any oddities to the daemon other than it being bigger than usual, and seemingly more aggressive than others, and the fact that it didn't call any minions to it, so he quickly threw a poison of fire to cloak his lance edge, calling you to him. 

  
“(Y/N)! Get over here!” 

You ran to him, and he cloaked your daggers with it too and said quickly, and as focused he could. “Alright, aim for its legs in first hand, then the belly, beware its fangs, it could paralyze you if it uses its electricity on you.”

You nodded determined and turned to the spider who the rest of the boys were peppering. You took a glance at Ignis and together you bolted towards the spider, taking each side of it to synchronize your attacks at the legs. You easily dodged the attacks from the legs, slashing them on the way, not using too much of your energy, letting the target come to you instead. The fire seemed to take great effect on the foe as it shrieked even higher in pain than from the slicing and piercing the other boys did. The spider grew into a frenzy, throwing itself from side to side to make distance from the agile men and woman, not fully succeeding. It began to form an prickling sensation in the air, and Ignis shouted to the others.

“Get away! It is loading up it’s electricity bomb!” And all of you began to roll away as soon as the spider shot out its bomb, exploding around itself, seemingly to boost its frenzy even more. It almost caught the party in the bomb, leaving only a uncomfortable burn in your legs. 

“Regroup!” Ignis again shouted as Noctis had shouted out to him in an inquiry of instructions. 

You all moved quickly up to Ignis, all panting and sweating in the burning sun, waiting for more instructions. All of you had got small scratches and bruises but it would seem nothing too serious. The spider had gathered itself and was making its way to you, but Ignis signaled none to move. Prompto began to stir and move, not really comfortable with not reacting to a spider that huge coming towards him. 

“Are you really sure of this, Iggy!?” He said, being stressed out. 

“Yes! Trust me.” Answered the slender man and focused even more and when the spider almost came up to the party, heaving itself up again on its back legs to strike down, Ignis quickly shouted.

“Alright! Now is our chance! Attack!” And as the belly was fully exposed, the whole party attacked at once, slicing the belly open and Gladio going after the throat, cutting it open as a letter with a knife. The spider gurgled and fell down in the middle of it’s attack, insides splayed out as the rest of the party had opened it up just as easily. You all stood beside as the daemon tried to draw it’s last breath, dying quickly. You all panted from the effort but soon smiling and then chuckling lightly from the relief and adrenaline that was shooting through your veins. You slowly then made your way back to the Regalia when Noctis finally broke the silence.

“Well, that’s that then.”

“Good job, Prompto.” Gladio commended Prompto while patting his shoulder, almost firing the gunman down in the dirt. 

“Y-You really… You really think so?!” Prompto stuttered, overwhelmed. He really wasn’t used to the praise from the big guy, and he had always felt subordinate the Crownsguard and he really wasn’t one of them, and he had only been able to tag along just because he was Noctis’ friend. He really had to work on his self-consciousness a fair bit, as he wasn’t bad on what he was doing. 

Before Gladio was able to answer, Noctis phone rang and the prince picked it up. 

“Hello?” 

It was Cid, the mechanic down by Hammerhead.

“Hello kid. Listen, I need you to come by the shop. Could you do that? It’s urgent.”

“Alright, see you there in a bit.” Noctis answered and they hung up. 

He forwarded the message to the guys and then we all made our path to the car, more determined this time.


	3. Casual encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As you make your way for Hammerhead, things go not quite as planned and you will be forced to reschedule.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back! Really trying to figure out and get into the conversations of the group, it's still a bit unfamiliar to me, even though I could figure out how the characters are, it's hard to get it down in written words as I want them to. Oh well, keep training they say!
> 
> But hey, even got some kudos on this, THANK YOU! <3 It keeps me motivated!
> 
> I might not be able to update very soon as I have some weeks of moving and travelling, and saying good byes and such. Just so you know. 
> 
> \-----

You were all crammed into the Regalia once again and as Ignis revved the engine and the car sped down the road, you sank into the seat, feeling a bit impatient. Noctis was already asleep on your left, supporting his head on his left hand, breathing deep but not snoring. Gladio was reading a book, you couldn’t quite see what it was, and he really hadn’t brought it up before. But by the looks of it, it wasn’t the regular fiction most liked to read. And by judging Gladio’s face, it wasn’t something too easily read, as he was deeply sunken in thought, sometimes pausing reading to look up, still in his deep thinking, not looking quite present. He touched his oncoming stubble on his chin, scratched it a bit before he continued reading. You almost imperceptible bit your lip at the sight of that, before mentally shrugging your head, clearing your mind.  _ “Aw come on, chill down, hormones!”  _ You thought to yourself, blushing the faintest bit. Then you turned to the thought of what Cid might have up in his thoughts, “urgent” as it was. As this happened, the Regalias engine started to stutter, huffing and straining and fought to keep itself alive. All in the car was alerted and looked seemingly stressed, questioning around in the car, Ignis being close-bitten. He swiftly and with professional ease slowed the breaking Regalia down to a stop by the side of the road, sighed and got out and you all followed his example. 

“What happened to it?” Noctis and Prompto simultaneously asked, each in their own tone, being anxious in their own way. 

“I do not know, but let’s find out.” Ignis answered, equally close-bitten as before. He opened the hood of the Regalia, smoke were coming out of the engine. Unfortunately, none of you were any good of a mechanic, so you yourself prompted Noctis to call Cid and Cindy to tell them what had happened. Gladio had joined Ignis by the hood and them both tried to search for the missing link in all while whisking away the smoke that still poured out of the engine and eventually, it stopped as it cooled down. Prompto and you were taking pictures of the chaos, amusing yourself as you both tried to keep the good spirits up, annoying both Gladio and Ignis for a bit as they tried to focus to find the problem. 

Noctis had gone away from the stir to call and soon came back to announce the news. 

“Good news guys, Cindy will come pick us up with the truck, taking us to Hammerhead in like fifteen minutes.” 

“Sounds reasonable enough.” Ignis answered, seemingly relieved, as Cid had asked that you hurried as fast as you could to Hammerhead some 45 minutes ago. “Let us not waste more energy until Cindy arrives, then.” he continued, moving to the side of the car that gave some shade from the burning afternoon sun. You all nodded and sank down as the stagnant heat made you all pant and sweat slightly and the air vibrate.

“Feels I’m gonna melt in this  _ heaaaat _ !” Prompto loudly moaned, wiped off some sweat from his brow and dramatically fell over to his back, spreading the legs and arms widely, panting heavy and even more dramatically. “Yeah” was the only thing that came from Noctis, he had closed his steely blue eyes and lips parted slightly, trying to cope while dazing off in the heat. Ignis remained silent, as he was sitting right to you, repeatedly pushing his glasses up his nose as they kept sliding down from the sweat on his nose. His well-kempt hairstyle also started to droop as the wax had starting to melt. Gladio grunted a few times, wiping his forehead, leaning his head back on the cars door, breathing through his mouth. “Could you be more dramatic?” He taunted Prompto and lightly smacking the younger blonde’s shoe. 

“Well, yeah, I could, but you wouldn’t want me too.” Prompto answered before he went “Hey!” as a reaction to the smack on his leather boot.

Another ten minutes went and more complaints from the blonde came with Noctis chiming in at times, agreeing. You just smiled at them, panting slightly yourself, shaking your head slight before your senses was brought alive and you quickly rose to your feet. In the distance you saw the yellow Hammerhead truck making its way towards the stranded party in the desert, honking when its driver saw you waving. “Is that Cindy?” Ignis asked while raising to his feet, patting the dust off his Crownsguard attire. “Yes, I believe it is!” You eagerly answered, still waving. The truck pulled up next to the Regalia and Cindy opened the door and jumped down. 

“Howdy y’all! What you’ve done to this purdy, fine thing this time, I wonder!” She greeted with a smile. “Don’t you worry, me and Paw-Paw will fix her up real nicely in no time.” 

Noctis scratched his neck, somewhat embarrassed, but before he could answer, Ignis stepped in and expressed the groups’ gratitude. 

“Thank you Cindy, we don’t know what we would have done without you, it has been rather sultry out here.” 

“No problem, need to keep them fine engines from the royal city purrin’, don’t we? There ain’t many of them coming here at all. Oh and by the way, you look like you all could use a shower or two, so let’s get this baby on the ramp and head back to the Hammerhead.” You all nodded and Noctis and Prompto helped Cindy getting the Regalia on the platform and then you all squeezed into the truck cabin, who thankfully had two rows of seating, three in the front and four in the back. Thankfully Cindy had air-condition in the truck and you all were flicking the vents back and forth to get as much of the cold air as possible. You didn’t notice it at first, but after a while, you noticed that something kept grazing your thigh in the small stir, and when you noticed it sended a shiver down your spine. Gladio, who conveniently had placed himself beside you, had taken the opportunity when the focus where elsewhere in the party and trying to, teasingly get you worked up. You got a bit nervous, trying to stop him sheepishly, didn’t want the others to notice and you started to blush a bit. Gladio, who noticed that you were not comfortable, stopped immediately and with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes, he turned to Noctis instead and started tease him about the wedding with Lunafreya that in a month would happen, if all went accordingly to plan. You weren’t due to set out for Altissia for a couple of weeks yet but you had ventured out here to get to know your surroundings, and to train against some more dangerous creatures than yourselves. You all needed to be prepared in case something went wrong and hither forth, it hadn’t really gone as expected. Last time you had ventured out, you yourself had taken quite the beating by a Coeurl and were sore and bruised some weeks after. The others had also had a rather hard time with this Coeurl but you all managed to put it down, all straining with effort. And this were the first time after that time you were outside Insomnia again.

You all pulled up at the Hammerhead just before sundown and stopped outside the garage. 

  
“Well y’all, we’re here. Unfortunately I can’t start on her tonight, got some other customers cars to work on. But I will be sure to work on her tomorrow alright?” Cindy excused herself while jumping out of the truck and heading to the garage and you jumped out one by one through the passenger door. 

“We have the caravan for you to rest in if ya want, and shower’s are in my apartment on top of the garage, if y’all want to!”

“Yes please! I’m going first!” shouted Prompto and hurried towards the stairs on the side of the garage followed by Noctis who shouted “Oh no, it’s mine!” and warped to the top of the staircase just as Prompto reached the bottom of it. 

“Aw come on! That’s so unfair! I also want to be able to warp!” He frowned and looked up on his best friend and turned around to go back the the other half of the group. Ignis said to him as he came back, trying to cheer him up again.

“You could help me with dinner if you want to in the meanwhile.” 

“Yeah sure, I guess.” 

And with that, they both wandered to the diner to buy something to eat, Ignis throwing a sharp glance at you over his shoulder while they went. That left you and Gladiolus alone by the truck, making you a bit nervous as you knew he would bring it up. 

“So… (Y/N). This morning… I just want you to know that it was great, and if you want, I’m up for that again. But yeah, you gotta relax a bit, it’s all fun, right?”

You swallowed hard, not really believing your eyes, and you couldn’t really make anything out of all these feelings you had inside, all twisting and fluttering and shivering of anticipation. So you just stood there, a bit of a wreck, stuttering, but smiling. You nodded quickly and was took by the surprise when Gladio leaned down and cupped his big hands around your neck and gave you a very intimate, craving kiss which just made you melt right down into your shoes, totally relaxing in his grip, fell a bit inwards toward his body as you answered it with just as equally intimate in yours.  _ I could get used to this… _ you thought to yourself. He let go after a short while and you stood straight up, forcing your legs to support your body again, had a bit of a flush on your cheeks from the sudden, intimate action. 

While you tried to shake the growing feeling in your body, Noctis had come out of Cindy’s apartment, dressed into clean clothes, damp hair and a towel around his neck. 

“Where’s Ignis and Prompto?” he asked, going towards the caravan and sat down in one of the plastic chairs. 

  
“Getting dinner, that’s what they said at least.” You answered, relieved that a normal conversation would help you get your thoughts straight again. Gladio had looked at you with a smirk when you had followed Noctis to the chairs, casually walking to the staircase to take a shower. 

“AW COME ON?!” you suddenly heard from behind as Gladio had closed the door after him. “Really?! It was my turn!” Prompto groaned loudly. 

“There, there. Eat some dinner and you can go after Gladio.” Ignis tempered the childish behaviour from the otherwise so sunny Prompto, balancing five plates of delicious salmon and fries in a bath of heavenly good sauce.

“Have you eaten something sour today, Prom?” Noctis teased a bit, smiling teasing at the blonde of the same age. 

  
“Yeah, well, this heat today was awful and Regalia broke down and we shall not mention that icky Arachne who almost trampled me earlier today. And you know I hate bugs!” Prompto eased his heart all at once. 

  
“Yeah, I’m with you, I don’t like bugs either. But hey, I hope you got some good pictures of the battle today. I mean, how do you even do it, taking it mid-battle?” Noctis tried to ease Prompto, feeling a bit guilty for teasing him. It seemed to cheer Prompto up a bit. 

“But first, let us eat our dinner, before it gets cold, shall we?” Ignis cut off. 

And so you digged in. Some few minutes later, Gladio came down the stairs, with just an equal picture of this morning, damp hair, not entirely dried skin on his upper body, which, by the way, was naked. The towel was nonchalantly wrapped around his hips, just as your legs had been wrapped around ear-... and you stared.  _ No! Stop before you starting to drool, you idiot! _ You shook your head and focused very hard on the salmon ahead of you, almost staring it down. The others seemed to not have noticed anything. 

Ignis had felt the energy change when he and Prompto had gotten back, but he had holding his poker face, supervisioned you with stealth while you had sat down and Prompto had eased his heart. Until Gladio had come out. Something was up, but he wasn’t sure exactly what, because the energy in the group had changed instantly when the shield had gotten back. He had his suspicions, but he wanted to make sure. If they were to be correct, then he had to do something, but what, and how? He really had not courted anyone since high school and that was some time ago, the duty as the King’s Adviser and right hand had been his occupation whole and fully since then and it really did not leave any time for love or anything other really. 

“Sorry, I forgot my clothes by the truck, I’ll be back soon. Wouldn’t want you all jealous from my muscles and stare while we’re all eating.” Gladio excused himself with a grin as he went and picked up his duffel bag from beside the truck and closed behind him. You know the last words were aimed at you and you felt your face heat up, all the way up to your ears. You kept focusing on your food. 

Noctis immediately picks up on the bait and grumbled “Hey! I ain’t jealous! I got muscles too you know, you just… can’t see them…” 

Gladio just snickered as he closed the door behind him.

It went a few minutes and then Gladio came out again, hair now dry and some sweatpants and a tank top on. He sat down as you all almost finished and started eating, chatting away with the guys, asking for a match of King’s Knight, a request Noctis gladly accepted. Prompto had excused himself directly after dinner and hurried to the staircase to take that long wanted shower. Ignis took away the empty plates to the diner and began to stir around in the caravan, setting up the place for the night. 

Prompto came out from the apartment and you took the chance and grabbed your bag and hurried to the stairs, meeting him halfway, him giving you a very relaxed smile, sighing while rolling his shoulders a bit. 

“I really needed that shower. All fresh and all the worries flushed away...” 

You giggled at the sight of him, giving him a pat on the back and continued up the stairs, closing the door behind you. The apartment was rather big, but with a lot of stuff in it, neatly furnished and lots of shelves with different car-related things on them, probably relics. Despite Cindy being a mechanic which was a rather grimy work, she held the place surprisingly tidy and neat. The air was a bit humid and a bit steamy from the showers before and you stepped into the bathroom, locked the door and stepped out of your dusty and sweaty clothes. You started the shower and stepped in, and you had almost not felt how dirty you were until you had scrubbed your entire body clean and almost tender. The water massaged your somewhat stiff muscles and made them smooth and flexible again. You got ready and reached out your hand from the shower to quickly grab the towel and shivered by the cold that hit your wet skin from opening the shower door. You closed it quickly and dried yourself satisfactory before heading out and getting your clothes on. And when ready you headed out, didn’t want to waste no more time as Ignis had yet to shower and it started to get late. 

You quickly headed out and down to the caravan where Ignis waited, eyes locked on you as you stepped forward, the others had gone to bed he told you before rising to his feet, grabbing his own towel and headed up the stairs. You nodded as answer and headed into the caravan after that, trying to be quiet as the boys seemingly had fallen asleep already. You put down your bag by one of the last available bunk beds, crawled down under the blanket and cowered beneath it and soon you had heavily fallen asleep.


	4. Pretty Fool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After some hot happenings and realisations, the mood in the party's gone sour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided, to give it an extra spice, to include an anthem for each chapter. So from here on now, I will include a song from my personal collection that will fit the chapter to the best of my abilities. However, the anthem will be chosen after the chapter has been written.
> 
> Anthem no.4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wEdn-zphqE

You woke to the sound of someone’s alarm going off on the other side of the trailer, where the boys slept. They had the modesty of letting you have the more secluded part of the caravan, as you were the only girl in the party while taking the bunk beds in the other part. Stirring were heard from their side, some annoyed groaning of Noctis accompanied by Ignis’ mumbling words of encouragement, alas to no avail, the usual morning melodies with the party when you were out on missions. It might have crossed as rather unusual for the heir to be sent out on missions, as some would argue that it would be too dangerous for Noctis to be out on missions. Still, it was a good chance to train the Crown Prince in field, should he be forced to later on, and training in the sparring halls were nothing compared to the real world outside of Insomnia. After all, Regis himself were positive it would do Noctis good, and he were certain that he would do well in Ignis’ and Gladio’s hands, as well as yours. Regis had asked you to follow as you too, were part of the family, Noctis’ elder half sister of the maternal side more specifically and the captains’ had reported your progress through the years. The Crownsguard had been impressed by your ability to handle yourself and the weapons at hand and Regis were content with the results, sending you with the prince’s retinue. You had known Noctis not too long, but long enough for both to be content with what was, seeing as you really hadn’t been a part of royalty until recently and you had stayed with your biological father in Insomnia your whole childhood. It wasn’t until in younger teens you had been discovered as your mother apparently hadn’t told king Regis that you existed, as you were some years older than Noctis before she died in childbirth of said prince. Regis had found out 10 years later through a diary queen Aulea had in the royal suite, where she described the then-darker-than-now haired daughter and Regis had immediately made the effort of finding this girl who was you. When you had been found, he had offered you a place within the royal family to which you had politely refused as you didn’t want to leave your father. But you, along with your father, came to an agreement and you were secured a place in the Crownsguard to be able to be trained and later, become closer with your brother as Regis saw that being needed. And as you were the dear, last memory of his Aulea, he had rapidly grown fond of you. 

As time went and you got older, the duty as Crownsguard took more and more time and you had moved closer to the headquarters and the Citadel from the outer districts of Insomnia where you previously had lived, for the convenience mainly. You had served as Crownguard a few years before you had been promoted to the Kingsglaive and stationed in the prince’s retinue, where you had met Gladiolus and Ignis for the first time more officially. After that you had been trained by and later with the two men, firstly under Captain Glauca and later sparring with the tactician and the shield. Of course, you had seen the heir’s shield-to-be to and fro, but never really talked to him, only seeing him at distances which made you even more curious about the young Amicitia, not only because of his looks and apparent dominant posture, but also his outer behaviour which you found rather enticing. This feeling, naturally, didn’t cease when you had been promoted and translocated to the Kingsglaive, where you got to spar against him several times a week. 

You stretched in your bed and let out a big yawn, making Ignis to turn his head and look at you over his shoulder, letting out a brief “Good morning!” before turning to Prince Sleepyhead again, shaking his shoulder lightly and immediately hearing an even more annoyed groan from the sheets. Gladio turned up on the other side, changed into his training garbs, squeezing past Ignis to head outside, took the chance to give Noctis a pretty slap on the knee while he passed, making the figure shift and throwing himself to and fro with displeased grunts before actually sitting up and rather dazed-looking trying to open his eyes. “Get up princess, if we are to actually get something done today.” He let himself be heard before closing the door loudly, letting the morning sun break through the door and light up the entire trailer with golden soft light. Prompto was more awake than Noctis and was already on his way to get properly dressed and his bright voice chimed to no one in particular. “Heya, morning you!” Ignis had shortly after, assuring himself that the prince would actually get up and not falling back asleep, followed Gladio out the door, and you all now heard the clatter of utensils and such.

You smiled and mumbled an fitting answer before slowly shifting your pajamas into some jogging clothes, not wanting to miss out on the daily jog as well as Gladiolus’ company. Any way it would be, you were deeply attracted to the man, even if you were very shy and unsure of yourself when it comes to it. And you weren’t really sure if it even were appropriate to court the future king’s shield, being the king’s half sister and not really of the same social class as the others, excluding Prompto of course, as you had understand it. But you couldn’t really refrain from it as every time the towering man with those ambery eyes looked at you with that special, a tad bit mischievous glint in the eyes, you swooned. An effect proven to have affected almost every other women in his immediate surroundings, except his sister of course, Iris, who mostly saw him as a big doof and stupidly overprotective, as most brothers are. You pulled the tight tank top over your head and pulled it down and adjusted it to be neatly in place before heading out yourself, letting the caravan door be open. Gladio were stretching still and you joined him, your goddamn mind fixated on the flexing muscles of his body as he strained to awaken them. You began to stretch while chatting away with the adviser and shield to keep your mind busy and not giving yourself away. Soon enough, you were on your way, jogging side by side with Gladio lengthways with the road ahead. Maybe you should after all seize the opportunity at hand...

——— 

Ignis prepared with ease and with fast hand a steady breakfast, calculating the time it generally took for Gladio to get back from his jog and for Noctis to get out of bed and matched it with the time it took to prepare the food. He exchanged some words with Gladio the while he were still there and nodded to himself with content as everything worked out as planned. That was, until you stepped outside the caravan, in similar training clothes as Gladio, smiled towards both of you and starting to stretch with Gladio, surely to join him. Your eyes seemed be only for Gladio’s frame. Ignis’ eyes narrowed the ever slightest bit, not showing any signs, he hoped, of the displease he felt inside. That’s what he got for not having the courage to step forward earlier and express what he felt towards you, he berated himself on the inside. Six, your lean figure, the perfectly muscular arms and legs, the hands, equally beautiful as they were swift to kill. The hips that swayed slightly when you walked, tearing him apart on the inside, dying to touch. He reminded himself, as many times before that, even if he did want to have the courage to step forward, he doubted that it would be appropriate to make a move on Noctis’  _ half sister _ . He had been more than affected when Regis had told him, entrusted him with the information as he had been entrusted to protect you as well, or at the very least, keep an eye on you and step in if need arose. Which made it even more difficult to encourage himself to ask you out, as you not only became an interest of desire, but also his responsibility of sorts.

Shit, now they went away. Ignis shook his head to clear it, but couldn’t tear his gaze upon you, allowing his internal frown to manifest itself upon his lips. He bit down, tensing his jaw to fight the frustration within and tried to concentrate on the food, hurryingly stir the pot to not burn the food. He could never be what Gladio was, he had to find qualities in himself that would somehow suffice. And he wouldn’t get in the way, should it be as he apprehended. Gladio were his brother and one of his closest friends, aside from Noctis, and Noctis would have to come first, always, he reminded himself. But still… 

His thoughts were cancelled as Prompto closed up to his side, putting a firm hand on his shoulder, making him flinch ever so slightly. 

“Yeah, I know dude. Sucks to not be the big guy, amirite?” 

“What are you talking about, Prompto?” Ignis feared that his expression might have been caught on by the sunny gunsman. He furrowed his brows, looking with a rather irritated expression on his face.

“Dude, I’ve seen that look before. Totally in love with (Y/N), right?” 

“Why ever would I be that? (Y/N) is our friend, not to mention that she is Noct’s half sister. It would not be befitting to even look at her that way.” 

“Oh, come on Iggy!” Prompto whined and rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen how you’ve looked at her, when you don’t think no one is watching back at the Citadel.” He placed a friendly but teasingly fistbump on Ignis arm.

_ Drat. No point in hiding it now. _

“Very well, Prompto. Yes, I am interested in (Y/N), but as I said, it wouldn’t be befitting to even dare propose anything of the sorts.” Ignis winced of discomfort as he confessed, not being used to be this emotionally vulnerable to anyone really, beginning to pull his glasses up as a result of mental stress. He reached for a can of Ebony out of the cooling box, opened with a click and took a sip.

“Gladio has obviously done it.” Prompto shook his shoulders.

“Obviously.” Ignis slightly hissed with irritation when he said it. 

“So… It seems to be okay to do it, then. You should do it, Iggy, it’d probably do you good.” Prompto teased smilingly, making Ignis shoot annoyed glances at the shorter male. 

“And what exactly do you mean by that, Prompto?”

“Ahh, nothing, I just think it would do you good to have something on your mind other than being our mom all the time.” 

“You are not my mom.” 

Noctis had finally dragged himself out of the caravan, still with unkempt hair, but at least dressed, still very sleepy, rubbing his eyes and making a big yawn.

“Not a word, to anyone, you hear?” Ignis hissed his warning under his breath to Prompto while hiding the frown behind the can of Ebony which he rose to his lips. He aimed his free elbow into Prompto’s side as he were to open his mouth to spill the news he had managed to ferret. Prompto flinched and hissed quietly as he tried to keep his face.

“You are correct, Noct, but I will not let you succumb to the eternal naps I know you would have chosen if you could.” Ignis pulled himself together, used to be able to come up with something convincing to say when needed. 

He returned to the food on the stove while the two younger friends chatted away. 

  
  


——— 

  
  


You breathed heavily, sweat were trickling everywhere, even though you felt none the worse for wear. Lucky enough, the sun hadn’t risen too high yet as the temperature already witnessed that it would probably be equally as hot of a day. Gladio also were rather sweaty and you both stopped under a tree, right in the middle of a crossroad. You had been veering from the main road and turning to the dirt roads instead. You sat down with your back to the tree, still breathing heavily, putting down your hand, feeling something unusual and you flinch, pulling your hand sheerly close. You look down, finding some peas pods which you almost had sat down on.    
  


“Hey, we could bring these back to Ignis, he’d probably like it!” You said to Gladio who were leaning against the tree, taking the opportunity to stretch a little bit before sitting down.” 

“Heh, yeah, as long as you don’t show them to _ princess picky _ , he might even be able to sneak them down in the next meal we have.” the burly man beside you chuckled. 

“Sounds like a good idea.” you smiled and started to pick and put them in a small bag you always carried wrapped around your thigh. “Hey, about yes-”

“You kn-” 

The both of you abruptly stopped, cutting each other off. 

“Sorry… You first.” Gladio urged. 

“Oh… Um… I just wanted to say. About yesterday.” You had to stop in your tracks to steady your nervousness that had appeared. Your voice trembled when you continued. “I just wanted to know. Has it really shown that much? I mean, my desire for you?” 

Gladio’s voice boomed with laughter. 

  
“If you only knew, princess. Pretty much since day one. But then again, I am known to have that effect on the ladies.”

You blushed, but laughed and shot. “Wow, stuck up much?”

“What can I say? I am only telling the truth.” His laughter, which probably must’ve been heard all the way back to Hammerhead, died down to a chuckle. “But then again, you don’t look too bad yourself. I haven’t really been  _ not  _ lusty for you either.” 

You wondered if that man ever got embarrassed of what he felt, nonetheless expressing them even, as you yourself were sure you blushed all the way down to your toes. What do you answer on such a compliment?  _ You too? _ Nah, too wierd.  _ Thanks! _ Oh gods, even more cringe. So you decided to just fiddle with the straps on your jogging pants while looking down in them, biting your bottom lip. You both sat quiet for a while until Gladio got up on his feet, the smile being turned into a slight frown, giving him a more serious posture. Very unusual regarding his otherwise so cocky personality.

  
“Should we head back? I’m sure Ign-” 

You had shot up on your feet, grabbing his wrist with yours, almost stumbling trying to stop him. Not really the time to waste up on such a opportunity, as it still were too early for anyone to be out here really. You regained your footing, placing yourself before him, hastily getting up on your toes and placing your lips on the shields lips. Surprised as he was, he didn’t return the kiss at first. But soon you felt his strong arms around you and a content hum from down his throat as he replied the kiss with a very intimate and close kiss. You completely lost yourself, once again, still filled with a hunger that wouldn’t run out in quite a while, only giving more fuel for your fantasies. He pressed your body against him and you took every moment to seep in the feeling of his strong body, muscles bulky but still lean and the skin on his arms were a little bit coarse because of the salt on his skin. You snuck your hands in under his tank top, caressing his abs, founding it to be rather soft but hard as steel underneath as they flexed of your caressing and a small, ragged breath was heard from him. Was he ticklish? No time to dwell on that as he reached down to grab around your butt and lifting you up. You tugged at his shirt, as you had managed to pull your hands free from his shirt in the process, closing your legs around his hips, not leaving his mouth with yours for one second. He let his tounge briefly dance over your lips and as you allowed him and answered the dance with yours, feeling the somewhat salty taste on his so very soft, wet one. Gladio groaned into your mouth, turning around to lean you against the tree and then starting to fiddling with your pants, lucky enough they were as stretchy as needed. He pulled them to free your pelvic area from the restraint, getting more frentic by the minute. Beads of sweat were slowly starting to form as the sun climbed higher on the sky, giving even more heat to your situation. You yourself could not hold yourself and you clawed at Gladio’s chest, making aroused noises as you got more and more mirthful by his actions. He released your mouth and gazed into your eyes, his gaze being dazed from desire that had been built for a while. He released one hand again to fiddle with his pants, bringing out his girthy member and he pressed his hot member against your folds. You whimpered of anticipation and let out an airy breath of pleasure as he immediately got slick of your wetness. Gladio let out a deep voiced moan, almost giving in to the pleasure you gave him, almost losing himself. He released his member somewhat reluctantly to instead stroke you with his thick fingers, slowly playing with your outsides, making his middle finger very wet as he teased you with almost giving you a finger inside. You trembled and let out a shaky breath and stretched your neck upwards which Gladio immediately caught on upon and delved into your neck with his mouth again, his fast breathing hot against your skin, made you shudder of pleasure. He bit down on your neck as he began circling your clitoris slowly, and a shot of pleasure ruptured through your body, coming from two ends, and meeting in the middle. You let out a deep moan and clawed at Gladio’s back, clinging on to him as the waves of pleasure struck you with every circle he did. The waves became stronger and tides more frequent in their circles, and you made it known through your pleasured moans that grew louder and less controlled by the seconds. Gladio loosened his bite to just nuzzle down on your neck, feeling you close.

“I-I.. I think I’m g-gonna cum… Gladio…” you stuttered out between guttural cries, holding on for dear life, trying to muffle them into his shoulder while he pressed on. He hummed contently and started kissing your neck light and tenderly while he edged you several times, stopping right before he sent you over the edge. And each time you cried out of frustration of the denied orgasm, biting his neck and trying to make yourself cum by rubbing yourself against his body, but he held you close, stopping every try you made. And you knew it was useless, he was so much stronger and he held you in a grip that made him able to do what he wanted with you. So you just whimpered, looking into his light amber eyes with your own, teary-eyed because of the immense pleasure. 

“Please…” you managed to whisper, reaching for his lips with your own to have something to channel this desire towards. He smiled fondly and placed a kiss on your forehead before meeting your lips with his own, hungrily devouring you as he started edging you again and this time, he let you go off. 

The orgasm was so intense when it gushed over you, you clenched down several minutes, shaking and Gladio just held you still, holding you close as you rode it over and over. Several guttural screams were pouring out of you, almost making your tears flow down your cheeks of release. And when you started to come down from the high, he had prepare himself. He slowly made his way inside you with his finger to prepare you for his member and started massaging calmly and intimately your insides, knowing you would be sensitive. You were absolutely pouring out, and it was easy to not become overstimulated, even though you had just seconds ago, cumming your brain out basically. After some minutes, he pulled his fingers out, wetting his cock with what was on his fingers, pleasuring himself a bit before again pressing the tip against your folds, which were if possible even more wet now. He slowly sank you down to let himself enter you, opening his eyes widely as if he weren’t ready to how pleasuring it would be. He groaned loudly and started rocking you in a steady, moderate pace, needing to adjust the best he could. You groaned and gave in to him, his member filling you up and,  _ Six were he nice to have inside you. Shiva, you might even say that you loved this man. _ You shook the thought out of your brain, as well as Gladio’s panting and moaning brought you back. 

Gladio stepped up the pace, his legs shook of exhaustion but he pressed on, couldn’t stop. His grip on your thighs and ass tightened as he slammed into you, making you gasp of how deep he entered. He grunted deeply and soon he jerked unevenly accompanied by low growls as he came inside you, emptying himself completely. You had become rather worked up again during the time and you squealed of pleasure, holding on to him, drowsily stroking his back. When you both had calmed down, Gladio dropped you down and you immediately lost your footing. Having Gladio lifting you up all this time had made your legs weak and now they gave away for your weight that all of a sudden demanded to be held upright. Gladio quickly grabbed your arm and then supported you until the blood had flowed back into your legs. 

“Woah there princess, still falling head over heels for me?” he laughed, but with a genuine concern in his voice. You just laughed and shook your head, fighting to keep yourself upright, managed to slap him lightly on the arm.

“My body does, at least. Mentally, that’s a story for another time.” You laughed and steadied yourself. 

“Heh, well, I’ll hold you to that.” He smirked, placing another of those tender kisses on your forehead again, before slowly releasing you when he saw that you could stand on both legs again. “Let’s head back now, before the guys are sending a patrol after us.” 

“Yeah, good idea. I could use a shower too, about right now.” you smiled, feeling the sweat trickling down your forehead, and fixed your ponytail to not be too 

  
  


And so you made your way back. The sun stood now high on the sky, compared to when you left, it should be around or right before 9.00am right now. When you got back, you were met with the guys around the camping table, plates with leftovers from the breakfast, it reminded you of the peas you had gathered for Ignis. You just hoped that you hadn’t crushed them during the…  _ physical activity _ you and Gladio had participated in… You checked your bag, yes, they looked intact.  _ Perfect! _ Then you could’ve distract them from the fact that you had been gone a lot longer than anticipated. You walked up to the table, said to Ignis while undoing the straps of the bag and handing it to him. You tried to sound as natural as possible. Gladio waved off to Cindy’s apartment and to the shower that awaited.

“Here, I found these while we were out, might do good in your cooking I imagine.” He looked at first a tad bit surprised, but welcomed them.

“Thank you (Y/N). These certainly look pristine. Are these the reason for your being late?” 

Ignis wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer, but he couldn’t stop himself. It did seem like a legitimate question to ask.

“Ah… Yes it was… We managed to go further than anticipated, we found more of them further away from were we first stopped. And took a different path back.” You tried not to stumble on the words as you spoke out your lie that was pretty much pulled out of your ass on the go. You did an inner facepalm, Ignis were more than enough trained to see through lies and read body language and he would most certainly call you out on your bluff. But… he didn’t. If he had noticed anything, exactly nothing had slipped onto his expression that let on that he knew you lied.

“Ah yes, it happens. Thank you anyway, I will make sure to use them for our lunch while they are still fresh.” Ignis gave you a smile as genuine as he could, gathered his things and started cleaning up the dishes, back turned to you. And as soon as his back were turned to you, a frown grew on his face. Of course he had noticed that you lied and not only did it hurt to know that something most certainly HAD happened, it hurt almost more to know you had lied to him. But why would you even? What made you so afraid or embarrassed that you didn’t want to tell the friends of almost twelve years about a potential love interest, even if it was one of the friends even. And Gladio of all people should’ve said anything. Maybe he was wrong after all..? The musing didn’t clear his thoughts at all. 

You turned around, jaw clenching of stress and embarrassment, and made your way to Cindy’s apartment after getting your towel and your regular clothes. Six, you just wanted to sink through the ground right now, you could even be abducted by Ifrit and that would feel better than this. Things went too fast here and you were barely keeping up, and now you’ve gone and lied to one of your best friends, maybe the whole group just because you let yourself become seduced by the man who probably could do that for a living. You timed your way to the door well, as you met Gladio in the opening, avoid being forced to be alone with the man who were the source of your lies and averting gazes and words. He met you with a grin, but it turned into a slight annoyed scowl as you simply pushed yourself past the bulky, steamingly hot man, trying your darnest not to get distracted, still with a frown on your lips.

“Hey, what happened?!” He tried to grab your wrist, but you violently shook his big hand off, slamming the bathroom door to shower. 

  
  


——— A few hours later ——— 

  
  


“So, this thingy-ma-jingy is supposed to be somewhere around here, right?” Noct’s somewhat uninterested voice flatly where heard in the back of the Regalia.

  
“Supposedly, according to Cid it is.” Ignis answered lowly, trying not to give in to the suspense almost half of the party were sending out. 

It was awkwardly silent in the car after that, only Prompto’s feeble attempts to easen up the tense feeling in the air. But even those died down soon enough. You stared outside the window, the sun shone ever so merciless, making you squint, but you wouldn’t give in to break your gaze.  _ Why had you been so stupid? _ you muttered to yourself internally.  _ This wasn’t appropriate to say the least. _

  
  


Some few hours later of trekking, some fiends defeated and the party drenched in sweat, small cuts and bruises, they had their hands on a very precious bangle that would help Noctis to channel his magic more direct and making sure it wouldn’t misfire and hurt the other guys. The tension from before, however, wasn’t relieved, even if the mood in the party were more uplifted by the found. It was still worth it as this most certainly would strengthen Noctis, allowing him to not hold back while he cast his magic, out of fear of accidentally catching his comrades in it at the same time. Now he could deal even more damage to his enemies.

You made your way back to Insomnia, eager to get back to normal routines. You yourself were happy to be able to get some space and be able to contemplate what had happened these two days without having Gladio’s worried eyes on you and you could stop getting so distracted from the gaze itself. It were almost nightfall when you got back and you were all exhausted. Ignis had downed several cans of Ebony on the two hours long ride home and Noctis and Prompto were sleeping hard in their seats beside each other, Prompto had fallen over and were hardcore sleeping and drooling on Noctis’ shoulder, and you yourself couldn’t keep awake, instead dozing off beside Ignis in the driver’s seat, leaning on the door. Gladio were reading a book in the backseat, used to the lack of sleep, relaxing in his own ways with the book. 

Ignis stopped the engine outside the Citadel and you all except Noctis woke up with a stir. Prompto made a surprised and seemingly embarrassed sound when he noticed he had slept on the prince’s shoulder, drooling it down in the process. You snorted out a tired giggle, trying to diffuse and muffle it into a cough when you saw Prompto’s reaction and the crime scene. Prompto tried hastily to wake Noct up, and hoping he wouldn’t notice too much. Gladio and Ignis were taking the stuff out of the trunk and were soon heading into the Citadel, and headed to the wing where all the royal staff and other important persons had their apartments. Ignis gave the key to the Regalia to a waiting butler and continued without a word to his floor. And soon the rest of you were following, some few words were exchanged as each went to their apartments. As soon as you got into the door, you just headed for bed, not wanting to deal with any of the things that gnawed inside your head right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I have some problems to that I don't know where this should lead exactly right now, so I am more than open for ideas and suggestions in the comments. Also, remember, constructive critique is always welcome. <3 Have the best until next time.


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